Poll Watchers Will Keep Their Eyes On Florida

CAMPAIGN 2004

Suspicious eyes -- thousands of them -- will be watching Florida as if it were a developing nation when voters cast their ballots on Election Day.

Democrats have registered 7,000 poll watchers and Republicans more than 5,000 to keep an eye out for shenanigans. Both sides have augmented their poll-watcher numbers with platoons of lawyers looking for voter fraud.

FOR THE RECORD - ********** CORRECTION OR CLARIFICATION PUBLISHED OCTOBER 30, 2004 **********An article on Friday's front page about poll watchers described incorrectly what they might wear. Poll watchers are prohibited from wearing anything that identifies their affiliation with a political party or candidate.*****************************************************************************

In addition, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and other groups are sending thousands of out-of-state volunteers to monitor the election in an effort reminiscent of the civil-rights movement in the 1960s. And election observers from Uganda, El Salvador, Kenya and Haiti will be in the state Tuesday to see that Florida's election is as fair and impartial as Afghanistan's.

The extraordinary scrutiny comes as both sides accuse the other of trying to steal the election through voter fraud, scare tactics and intimidation.

"There is a lot of paranoia going into this last week of the election on both sides," said Daniel A. Smith, associate professor of political science at the University of Florida.

In some precincts, voters will have to wade through a swarm of outside observers, candidate supporters and attorneys just to get inside. The lawyers and election observers must stand 50 feet from the entrance to the polling place, along with those soliciting votes for their candidates.

Inside, poll watchers, often wearing shirts identifying their party affiliation, will stand behind poll workers, straining to hear the names of voters receiving ballots. Individual candidates are also entitled to have poll watchers.

Elections supervisors worry that the flood of people will leave little room for the record number of voters expected to show up when the doors open at 7 a.m. Tuesday.

"I'm just wondering if there will be enough room for voters to park, or if voters will be scared off and not come in. I do have that concern," said Connie Click, assistant supervisor of elections in Osceola County.

Democrats fear Republicans are prepared to systematically challenge the qualifications of black and Hispanic voters, which could create bottlenecks at the polls. The suspicions were fed by reports that Republicans had a list of 1,886 voters they were planning to use to challenge voters in predominately black areas of Jacksonville.

In Ohio, another closely contested swing state, the GOP has already challenged the eligibility of 35,000 newly registered voters.

The Republicans, in turn, suggest the Democrats plan to pack the polls with illegal voters.

Pax Christi USA, a Catholic peace group, is bringing in an international monitoring team of 30 foreign observers to scrutinize the voting in Duval, Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties. The team is comprised of observers from Africa, South America, Europe, Southeast Asia and Canada.

"They will be looking for a lack of translators, accessibility issues for people who are disabled and voter intimidation," said spokesman Johnny Zokovitch.

In Orange County, the Democratic Party and its candidates submitted the names of 3,203 poll watchers, while their Republican counterparts turned in a list of 276 qualified poll watchers. In Osceola County, Republican poll watchers outnumber Democrats' 38 to 17. In Seminole County, poll watchers are almost evenly split -- 245 Democrats to 234 Republicans.

In Miami-Dade County, the list of registered poll watchers stretches 87 pages.

The Democratic Party also has more than 2,000 attorneys trained in election law to ensure that voters are not denied.

"There will be registered poll watchers at every single polling place. We will have lawyers in every county," said Christine Anderson, spokeswoman for the Kerry-Edwards campaign.

The Florida Republican Party is employing its own army of lawyers.

"They're here to make sure the laws are applied, people vote and that the system is transparent and open," said Mindy Tucker Fletcher, senior adviser to the Republican Party of Florida.

Tucker Fletcher denied that a database of voters registered by ACORN, an anti-poverty group, would be used to challenge potential Kerry voters Tuesday.

To challenge a voter, a poll watcher will have to fill out an oath stating the basis for the challenge. The voter then must sign an oath reaffirming his voter qualifications. Poll workers then vote to determine whether the voter should be denied a ballot or be given a regular ballot or a provisional ballot.

After the election, the county canvassing board determines whether such provisional ballots qualify as legitimate votes.

Challenges can be made for an assortment of reasons, including that the person is not a U.S. citizen or a resident of the county, has already voted or is not old enough to vote.